NOTE: Full spoilers for this episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” are present in this review
The Coral Palms storyline finally wrapped up in this week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode, aptly titled, “Coral Palms Pt. 3.” The squad races down to Florida to assist Peralta and Holt, against orders, and the stage is thus set for a final confrontation between Jimmy Figgis and the Nine-Nine, something that has been built up since the final few episodes of Season Three. For the most part, this was another entertaining episode to boot, even if a few story elements felt hampered by being constrained to the half-hour space in this arc finale.
The latest leg of Peralta’s and Holt’s escape starts off on a reliably funny note, as the two try to blend into Florida, only to find their faces broadcast everywhere on the news. One particularly botched fleeing attempt has Holt’s leg impaled by a pipe, and this forces the two to retreat back to their familiar hideout. What resulted from here was probably the most hilarious joke in the episode too, as Peralta is told to remove the pipe, but is too grossed out to do it, leading to Holt having to coach Peralta through Holt performing impromptu surgery on himself, and barely reacting to it. This was likely the funniest moment in the entire Coral Palms story arc, especially when Holt finishes consoling Peralta after completing his stitching, and Peralta claims that he’s so strong afterward. Sure you are, Peralta. Sure you are.
The scenes of the squad first heading down to Florida also have some solid laughs in them, though they’re also let down a bit by having to force the actual trip segment into a scant few minutes. After flight tickets somehow end up completely sold out, everyone has to pile into Jeffords’ minivan, which predictably gets very uncomfortable very fast. Things get so uncomfortable in fact that the squad ends up accidentally rear-ending another car! Oh no! Then… Nothing happens. The squad just warps to Florida in the very next scene. Really? There were no consequences from being in an honest-to-goodness car wreck, to the point where the airbags deployed? It didn’t even slow the squad down?! Even for a goofy sitcom like this, that feels pretty implausible, and it’s annoying that the show skipped over the aftermath of this car accident, among other inevitable obstacles on a drive from New York to Florida.
Regardless, when everyone reaches Florida, the squad starts formulating their plan of attack for Figgis at the Fun Zone where Peralta and Holt worked in their undercover identities. The setup and lead-in that goads Figgis to the location, with Figgis revealed to be being played by seasoned villain actor, Eric Roberts, all made for amusing moments, particularly bits where Jeffords and Boyle compete to make a poignant dying video for their children (Boyle has apparently adopted a four-year-old Latvian child off-screen for some reason. I guess this will be addressed later in the season), and Diaz imitates a little girl winning a prize.
Unfortunately, due to his leg injury, Holt has to sit out the action with Gina. Gina however is keen to assist the Nine-Nine with Holt after some persuasion, especially as she picks up guns seemingly everywhere she goes. The Coral Palms arc has derived a surprising amount of political red state humour at the expense of Florida, to the point of even having a facetious Florida-roasting news report serving as the episode’s cold open, but Gina finding guns everywhere was still pretty funny. Maybe some people living in Florida will be less amused at Brooklyn Nine-Nine taking so many shots at their state, but Gina and her reliable antics still make everything better.
Gina and Holt eventually manage to crudely hijack a truck and drive to the Fun Zone as well, just in time to bail out the rest of the squad, who initially take out Figgis’ thugs, but eventually end up captured by the sheriff that’s chasing Peralta and Holt, as well as Figgis himself. Gina and Holt being the ones to stop Figgis felt pretty fitting, even if the whole suspense of capturing literally the entire Nine-Nine felt pretty unrealistic, and obviously didn’t go anywhere. Moreover, why wasn’t any of the Nine-Nine carrying their badges? Were they hoping to get into a spat with the local cops? That just doesn’t make sense.
Fortunately, all’s well that ends well, particularly as Peralta and Santiago eventually manage to get back on the same page after so many months apart. The show has a surprisingly earnest sweet moment with these two after Peralta is tended to by an ambulance, as they say they love each other, and kiss again for the first time in quite a while, and without any excited Boyle interruptions. Peralta and Holt can finally leave Coral Palms, though oddly, the end of the episode doesn’t include either of them. Instead, the rest of the squad meets up with Captain C.J., who punishes them all by putting them on the night shift, much to Jeffords’ comical horror. We know that Peralta and Holt are going to be back in Brooklyn soon, since next week is the much-anticipated Brooklyn Nine-Nine/New Girl crossover episode, though it was strange that they never returned with everyone else. Maybe they were held back a bit for hospital treatment and police processing?
In any case, the second chapter of the Coral Palms storyline was the best, but, “Coral Palms Pt. 3” was still a pretty satisfying finish to the beginning arc of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s fourth season. It’s too bad that this arc didn’t have just a smidge more time to work with, and if it had been a made-for-television movie that was around 90-100 minutes long, it might have been at its funniest and best-realized, especially since Maya Rudolph doesn’t even show up for this finale, which is a major disappointment. That said though, the resolution to the long-running Jimmy Figgis conflict brought the laughs, and effectively reunited the Nine-Nine’s finest. It’s not quite business as usual yet, since Brooklyn Nine-Nine is crossing over with New Girl next week, but Peralta and Holt nonetheless put the Jimmy Figgis conflict to bed in style!